Barrister prosecuted for defrauding the Legal Aid Agency

Ghaffar conspired with Gazi Khan (a legal clerk aged 55), Azar Khan (aged 52 and a solicitor advocate) and solicitor Joseph Kyeremeh, aged 73, to defraud the taxpayer.  

This prosecution follows in the wake of a substantial police investigation into fraudulent claims for Defendants’ Costs Orders submitted to the Legal Aid Agency’s national taxing team on behalf of acquitted defendants in criminal proceedings in Crown Courts. Defendants who pay their own legal costs can claim some of this back from the taxpayer after they’re acquitted. This is called a Defendant’s Costs Order (DCO).

In this case, defendants instructed solicitors and counsel to represent them privately in criminal proceedings and, following their acquittals, successfully applied to the courts for DCOs. These orders enabled their instructed solicitors to claim payments of their own costs and disbursements (which included counsel’s agreed fees) from central Government funds.

Four claims

The evidence in this case focused on four claims arising from the legal costs of four defendants who were acquitted. These defendants were then able to apply for the legal costs of their defence to be paid by the taxpayer. These four claims totalled £1,856,584, of which £469,477 (ie 25%) was actually paid out.

Gazi Khan, the leader in this criminal operation, worked as a clerk to Shadid Rashid, providing legal costs services to several solicitor firms. He has now been convicted of fraud offences relating to fraudulent DCOs and is sentenced to serve five years in jail.

Azar Khan was the principal partner in City Law Solicitors Ltd. According to evidence gathered by the prosecution, the firm started work on the case resulting in the claims on 1 July 2011 (circa ten weeks before it concluded), yet claimed to have carried out over 500 hours of work costing upwards of £162,000. He has been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment suspended for two years.

The firm’s claim also falsely backdated the work it had said it had done to include a long period when it was not instructed to represent any defendant, resulting in a payment of £93,000 from the taxpayer.

Joseph Kyeremeh was a principal partner in the same law firm. His legal work resulted in a claim relating to 650 hours of work at a value of over £176,000, with £60,000 coming from public funds. The punishment in this instance is a two-year suspended sentence.

The defendant in this trial, Ghaffar was responsible for a fee note in his name for £184,000 relating to over 350 hours of work, yet the evidence shows he had only been instructed seven days before the conclusion of the case.

Close co-operation

Malcolm McHaffie of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) noted: “These convicted defendants defrauded the Legal Aid Agency for their own purposes. They fraudulently took advantage of a statutory scheme which was designed to help acquitted defendants with their genuinely incurred legal costs.”

McHaffie continued: “The Metropolitan Police Service and the CPS worked closely together to bring these corrupt legal professionals to justice. They are now facing the consequences of their wrongdoing. The CPS will now commence confiscation proceedings in order to reclaim the defendants’ proceeds derived from the fraud.”